Agricultural consultant Ken Baker has confined himself to his farm in east Clare as a consequence of the foot-and-mouth scare. A part-time organic beef farmer, he has 20 breeding cows and produces the same number of beef cattle for sale annually.
As a consultant, Mr Baker specialises in the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme, which promotes environmentally friendly farming; applications for organic farm status and grant and retirement schemes. Much of the work entails visiting other farms and talking to farmers. "Farming is gone from the day when you had your few bits of stock and sold them. There is a big paper trail involved, and I would look after a lot of that end of it."
The Department of Agriculture asked that members of the Agricultural Consultants Association would not visit farmers. Mr Baker says it is "a responsible action for me to be grounded.
"From a business point of view, I am self-employed. My earnings are based on what work I do and if I cannot walk farms and cannot be in contact with the farming public, it does affect my income."
For the time being he can absorb the losses but fears the crisis will be drawn out. One of about 700 organic beef farmers, he is still vulnerable to the disease. However, he has "a closed herd" with relatively few livestock movements.
"I breed my own replacements. There is no input in regard to my stock. The only outputs are animals to slaughter and I sell on some for further fattening.
"There is a marginally higher risk to conventional farming because it is based on a more intensive system of farming. It is based on a greater movement of stock. That is not to say foot-and-mouth could not come onto organic farms."
Mr Baker farms 100 acres in Ardnacrusha and sells his cattle directly to locals. Stocking rates are about one-third lower than conventional farms. The organic system includes a strict regime of natural feeding, eliminating any risk of BSE, and a ban on chemical fertilisers. "Animals do not die for the want of medicines but there is much more stringent control on their use. It is based on systems that will reduce the need for medicine and chemical input," he said.
Organic farmers sell their beef for about £1.30 a pound compared to about 90p a pound for conventional beef.
"There is a tremendous opportunity for organics at the moment because there is a huge market opportunity for it in Ireland and Europe. A lot of Irish production is not 100 miles from it, it would not be a massive changeover to organics."